The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for automatic recognition of image and text/graphics areas on a master and in particular to a method and apparatus which divides the master into a plurality of "windows" and statistically examines each subdivision.
Automatic word processing units are increasingly employed in office use for generating, modifying and storing written documents. Such devices permit in a simple manner correction of errors, insertions of new text passages, combinations of texts of different origins, random reproduction, and electronic storage of the data representing the text passages. The advantage of such automatic word processing units in comparison to traditional typewriters is a higher efficiency both in cost and time as well as a high degree of flexibility in the use of the unit.
The above advantages associated with conventional word processing units is significantly lessened if the apparatus and method for storing and/or transferring existing information on paper into the data processing unit cannot also be undertaken in an automatic or semi-automatic manner. A manual transfer of great amounts of text involves substantial time and expense. Masters which contain the information which is to be transferred into the data processing unit generally consist of areas of text and/or areas of graphic and/or areas of images. It is a problem in the art to achieve an optimum encoding of the data contained on such masters, as well as to achieve a separate manipulation of the different areas within the machine.